Inspiration, ideas and information to help women build public speaking content, confidence and credibility. Denise Graveline is a Washington, DC-based speaker coach who has coached nearly 200 TEDMED and TEDx speakers--including one of 2016's most popular TED talks. She also has prepared speakers for presentations, testimony, and keynotes. She offers 1:1 coaching and group workshops in public speaking, presentation and media interview skills to both men and women.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

(This post is an update of one from 2010 that asked the same questions and got some great answers--including some that went on to be the basis for the blog's most-read posts to date. I'm looking forward to more of the same from you this time.)

When I started this blog, it was to fill a niche I kept stumbling over, in which women in search of good public speaking advice also could find research and information about why, sometimes, their public speaking challenges were different than those that men face.

The blog was still in the think stage when a longtime friend said to me, "I hope you make it a blog for anyone who might have to get up and talk--at a local club or committee, at a funeral or a wedding--and not just in a huge-audience formal speech, although that will be useful, too."

What's happened since is that men tell me, "That's just great advice for everyone," and "I am dealing differently with men and women and presentations at the office now that I've read about those issues on your blog." And women say, "I shared that video with my husband" or "I'm so glad I found this--I thought it was just me." People have been more forthcoming than I could hope about the speaking problems they are encountering. I knew we were all in the right place when a reader wrote in to ask how she should handle speaking at her mother's funeral--and was able to share readers' advice as well as my own. All that is more than I expected.

Now, I want to know more about you. I'm guessing that, too, will be more than I expected.

I'm inviting you to share in the comments your answers to two questions: Who are you? and What are you looking for here?

I'd like to know whether you're already a frequent speaker, or haven't yet walked up to a microphone; an introverted speaker or one who's at ease with speaking; what motivates you to learn about speaking; whether you're like a friend of mine whose public speaking mostly consists of talking into a speakerphone on hours-long conference calls on which no one can see her. Don't forget to add what you're looking for, please. Asking what you need to know is what has kept this blog on track for a long time now.

Knowing some of the readers, I will guess that the most valuable part of this exercise will be learning--all of us, together--what's out there in terms of people's hopes and aspirations about speaking.

Now it's your turn: Who are you? Share who you are and why you're here in the comments. And thanks for reading.